Nissim Ezekiel Poems

Nissim EzekielNissim Ezekiel (December 24, 1924 - January 9, 2004) was a poet, playwright and
art critic. He was considered one of the foremost Indian writers in English of
his time.
Ezekiel was born in Mumbai (Bombay) and his father was a botany professor and
his mother, principal of her own school. He belonged to Mumbai's Jewish
community known as 'Bene Israel' . In 1947, Ezekiel did his Masters in
Literature from Wilson College, University of Mumbai. In 1947-48, he taught
English literature at Juter College, Mumbai and published literary articles.
After dabbling in radical politics for a while, he sailed to London in November
1948. He studied philosophy at Birkbeck College. After a three and half years
stay, Ezekiel worked his way home as a deck-scrubber aboard a cargo ship
carrying arms to Indochina
He married Daisy Jacob in 1952. In the same year, Fortune press (London)
published his first collection of poetry, A Time to Change. He joined The
Illustrated Weekly of India as an assistant editor in 1953 and stayed there for
two years. Soon after his return from London, he published his second book of
verse Sixty Poems. For the next 10 years, he also worked as a broadcaster on
arts and literature for All India Radio.